Vote for what is best for the country

Rudzani Makumbe

Guess what. On May 18 it will be my first time voting at the South African municipal elections.

I hope that doesn’t give away my age.

I still remember when I went to vote for the first time, it was for the national elections in 2009.

I was scared and I panicked the whole week, asking myself the following questions:

What does the ballot paper look like?

What if I don’t know the faces of the candidates on the ballot paper?

Should I bring my own pen or will the officials give me one?

What if I mark the cross at the wrong candidate and I want to correct it, will the IEC officials give me another paper?

Will the queue be long at the voting station and will I have to wait for hours for this moment?

Does my single vote make a difference in this big country? All of the above questions may be on the minds of the new voters and I hope that, just like me, they will face their fears and go to vote.

After all the campaigns by the different political parties I personally believe that each and every individual knows what is right.

As we are living in a contemporary South Africa, I believe we all know that our votes should be based on merit and should not be influenced by our backgrounds. Unity is what South Africa need, we only have 17 years experience of democracy, a lot is still yet to be done to eradicate class divisions in the country.

Voting is a right and I hope that everyone will take part and vote as it is the right thing you can do for the country.

On Wednesday I hope we will all flood the voting stations and vote for what we believe in and what is best for the country.